To New Beginnings
by Violetcookies31
Summary: "If you went to bed crying and woke up crying, it's time to reconsider some things. When tears outweigh smiles, the love is fading. Don't hold on to someone who is desperately trying to let you go." -Tony A. Gaskin Jr.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** I haven't really posted any stories here lately, so when I started typing this I thought it would be a good idea to share it with you guys. Anyway, I kind of just wrote this out of the blue, so I'm not really sure what's gonna happen in the story. Let me know what you guys think :)

* * *

"How about Italy?" I asked looking down at my computer.

"Yeah, sounds good."

"Ohhh, look at this," I pointed at the screen. "They have some open spaces, let's call them."

"Uhuh**" Kiba replied while still looking at his phone.

I sighed, "Or maybe we should just not get married at all."

"Sure, whatever you'd like."

I closed my laptop and stood up, "You know what? I'm done with this."

Kiba finally looked up, "What are you talking about?"

"If you don't care enough to even try and put some effort into this, then why am I even here?"

"Babe-"

I raised my hand to stop him, "No. I thought that after us getting married then things would go back to normal."

Kiba put his phone down, "What are you saying? You don't want us to get married anymore?"

"I…I think we need some time apart."

"Jess, let's talk about this first."

"Kiba, you gave me so many great memories, and I'm so grateful for that." I paused, trying to find the right words. "But I deserve better. I deserve someone who cares about me, someone who will love me no matter what."

Kiba stood up, "Jessica, I'm sorry."

"Sorry isn't enough."

"Please, tell me what I can do."

I shook my head, "There's nothing you _can_ do. I just…I need some time to find myself. Maybe one day we can go back to whatever this was, but now is not the time." I turned to walk away and Kiba quickly reached up to grab my arm, "Don't."

"Jessica, please." The pleading in his voice made me turn around to face me. "I'm so sorry."

I opened my mouth to speak, but as I was about to reply his phone went off. When I looked at the phone a woman's face popped up and I quickly got out of his grasp. His eyes widened and he started saying something but I just turned around, grabbed my purse and walked out.

* * *

***A the beginning, when Kiba was not paying attention to her, I tried to make that sound like when you are being dismissive of someone. I looks really dumb, but I didn't know how to spell it. (So sorry!)***


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** There is a time skip of almost a month here.

* * *

"Here."

"Huh?" I looked up to see Naruto holding a cup of noodles, "Oh, thanks."

"Um, so how have you been?"

I shifted a bit, trying to get comfortable. "Good, I guess."

"Hey, I um, I have to go. Grandma Tsunade asked me to run some errands." He leaned down to give me hug, "Are you gonna be okay?"

I nodded, "Yeah, I'll be fine." He looked at me for a few seconds before he stood up and walked to the door. "Hey Naruto?"

He stopped, "Yeah?."

"Thank you."

He smiled brightly and then he was gone.

* * *

"There," I said to myself as I continued to put more designs around the cake I had made. I was so invested on what I was doing that I barely noticed someone was knocking on the door. When I went to open the door I saw Shikamaru standing there, "Oh, hey."

"Hey," he said. "Uh, is Naruto here?"

"He had some things to do."

"Oh."

I smiled at him, "Yeah, but he shouldn't take too long. Why don't you come in?"

He hesitated a minute before nodding and stepping inside, "So, how come you're here?"

I went inside the kitchen to grab turn of the food I had on the stove and then went back to the living room. "Well, after the whole thing with Kiba I didn't have anywhere else to go."

He nodded, "That's good."

"Yeah," I took a seat in front of him. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

Shikamaru looked at me then nodded.

"Have you seen Kiba lately?"

He looked at me then answered, "Yeah, I've seen him around."

"How is he doing?"

His frowned, "To be honest, he looked like crap." When I said nothing he kept talking, "If you don't mind me asking, what exactly happened with you guys?"

I sighed, "I was no longer a priority to him. It seemed like no matter how hard I tried, I could never get his attention anymore. I didn't want to be stuck in a loveless marriage."

"I'm sorry things turned out so bad."

"Yeah, me too."

Shikamaru looked around, "What smells that good?"

"I can't imagine just how bad of a roommate I've been, so I decided to cook Naruto some food. Why don't you stay with us for dinner?"

"Yeah, that sounds fun."


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** Another time skip. This is basically almost a year after the first chapter. During this time Jessica (OC) and Shikamaru have started getting closer. Nothing has happened with them yet, mostly out of respect for Kiba.

* * *

"Are you almost ready?"

I turned to Naruto, "I can't find any clothes I like."

He picked up a white shirt, "This one looks nice."

"Are you sure?"

He nodded, "You don't usually care about what you wear. If I didn't know better I would say you were trying to impress someone."

I turned around so he wouldn't see my faint blush, "Good thing you know better."

* * *

"It's too loud in here."

I turned to Shikamaru and smiled, "Yeah. You wanna go outside for a bit?"

"Sure."

When we had gotten out of the small bar we sat down on a bench just a few feet from the entrance, "I swear, those boys are gonna give me a worse headache than the beer."

Shikamaru nodded, "Yeah."

"Hey, is everything okay? You seem more quiet than usual."

"Everything is fine, don't worry about it."

We sat there for a few minutes, not saying a word, just enjoying the calm silence that loomed over us.

"I can't believe Kiba let someone like you go."

"Huh?"

Shikamaru turn his head to look at me, "He ignored you while you spend hours crying because of something he did. And even then, you never turned your back on him. You did nothing but give him your heart. I really love that about you."

"Shikamaru, what are you talking about?"

He stared at me, and then all of a sudden his lips were pressed softly on mine. He quickly pulled back and looked at me, watching carefully for whatever reaction I might have. When I bit my lip and stared at him he smiled and pulled me back into a much less delicate kiss. We only pulled apart when we heard Naruto yelling and asking where we were.

As soon as we had entered the bar Sakura handed us both a glass filled with alcohol and we went to go sit at an empty table. Despite the fact that we had all come together, everyone seemed to have split up into different little groups.

Naruto stood on a table and raised up his glass, "I just want to say that I'm glad I have friends as great as you guys." He went about saying some nonsense before he was pulled down by Kakashi.

Meanwhile Shikamaru raised his glass and waited for me to do the same.

"To new beginnings." He took a sip of his drink and then leaned down to plant yet another kiss on my lips.

"To new beginnings," I repeated smiling.


End file.
